Technology is revolutionising how people work across virtually all industries. From artifici...
Technology is revolutionising how people work across virtually all industries. From artificial intelligence to automation to robotics, tech is shaping our future. The sales sector is certainly no different. Sales technology is changing how we interact with customers, build sales pipelines, gather information, and close sales. Whether you are a seasoned sales professional or looking to start a career in sales, you must be aware of the available sales technology, as it will likely become an increasing part of your day-to-day roles.
Our comprehensive guide will explore the benefits that sales technology can have on your role, from automating tasks to boosting sales performance. We will also explore five significant sales technologies defining the industry's present and future.
Sales technology can be highly advantageous to the day-to-day roles of sales professionals. Here are the key benefits of sales technology:
Sales technology is able to improve efficiency for sales teams due to automation. Sales professionals spend less than 30% of their time actually selling. While there were a number of reasons for this, one of the most significant reasons was the sheer number of tasks they did as part of their role.
Sales technology can free up sales professionals to focus on sales, eliminating tasks like:
Prospect research
Data insights
Prospect reach
Manual data transfers
Automating follow-ups or sending reminding to do them
Automating tasks frees up valuable time for sales professionals to concentrate on more high-impact activities; it enables teams to identify trends, personalise their approach, and prioritise leads, helping drive sales performance.
Furthermore, the right sales technology can provide insights into your entire sales pipeline, delivering detailed information about your customers' wants and needs and enabling sales professionals to personalise their service. This means they're more likely to buy products by upselling, cross-selling, or seeking out new solutions, which can help increase your profits and sales by between 20% and 30%.
Sales technology allows access to vital real-life data, which would take weeks or even months to comb through without this technology. This means you can generate insights you can use to make decisions on key areas, including:
Tailoring your content for cleaner personas.
Discovering commonly asked questions and aligning the sales team to be able to answer them effectively.
Reach out to customers who have questions on services or products and provide an elevated experience of finding opportunities to upsell.
Identifying new search trends and patterns and tailoring products and services to them.
Sales technology such as customer service relationship management (CRM) systems fosters better collaboration and communication within the team, ensuring an organised and seamless sales process. In addition, sales technology optimises lead management, resulting in more personised and personalised interactions with potential customers.
Now, we have seen the key benefits that sales technology can have for businesses and sales teams. Let’s look at some of the most innovative sales technologies that will define the future of sales that many of you will come across as you progress in your career in sales.
A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is a sales technology that supports businesses manage and analyse customer interactions and data throughout the customer lifecycle. It is designed to improve customer relationships, streamline processes, and drive sales growth.
CRMs can:
Track sales activity
Automate sales processes
Manage tasks, customer data, and projects
Communication is one of the most important aspects of sales. An effective CRM system makes it easier to call, email, and text your customers in a personal and customised way. CRM systems provide a detailed view of each customer’s history so sales professionals can ensure their approaches, pitches, and offers are bespoke.
CRM systems can also streamline pipeline management, support the sales team in prioritising their efforts and leads, and aid in accurate sales forecasting. It acts like a personal assistant, helping you identify strong leads and influencing where you focus your energy.
Key benefits of customer relationship systems for sales professionals:
Improved customer retention - CRM systems enable sales professionals to proactively engage with customers, anticipate their needs, and provide personalised support. By leveraging the data, sales professionals can identify at-risk customers, offer targeting and tailored products and services, and provide timely follow-ups, ultimately building customer loyalty and reducing churn.
Increased sales - These systems provide sales professionals with detailed analytics and insights into customer preference, behaviour, and buying patterns. This information allows sales professionals to identify upselling and cross-selling opportunities, prioritise leads, and target their sales efforts, leading to higher conversion rates and increased revenue.
Automation of daily tasks - CRM systems can automate routine tasks for sales professionals, such as email notifications, lead scoring, and sales reporting, allowing them to focus on high-value activities like closing deals and relationship building.
Sales professionals gather huge amounts of data during their day-to-day roles and customer interactions. However, there is little point in having masses of metrics and data to improve your sales productivity if you cannot analyse it properly. This is where sales analytics tools can support you.
Sales analytics tools are software applications designed to gather, process, analyse, and visualise data related to sales professionals’ activities. These tools are crucial in supporting businesses to make informed decisions, optimise sales processes, and elevate overall performance.
There are four main types of analytics:
Prescriptive analytics - This is able to give specific recommendations on how you can improve your sales performance.
Descriptive analytics - Provides an overview of past sales performances and insights into the most effective strategies.
Predictive analytics - Helps managers to allocate resources effectively by using past trends to predict future sales.
Diagnostic analytics - This can assess why specific sales strategies worked and how sales professionals can repeat this success.
The key benefits of sales analytics tools for sales professionals include:
Increases accessibility to data and accurate reporting - Allows users to access data and produce accurate reports from any location.
Uncovering trends and data insights - The software is a game-changer for sales teams. It discovers crucial trends and offers extensive data insights, enabling sales professionals to make informed, data-driven decisions.
Tailor sales efforts and focus on high-value prospects - Enables sales teams to prioritise leads, identify upselling and cross-selling opportunities, avoid wasting time on unqualified leads, and manage their sales pipeline effectively. This will ultimately lead to more targeted and successful sales efforts.
If you have become reliant on to-do lists but want something more advanced, then project management tools could be the sales technology for you. These tools support you in planning and assigning tasks, tracking your progress, and setting deadlines.
Project management tools are particularly helpful for account-based teams, who may need close collaboration when closing deals. These tools can provide more senior sales professionals insight into time management, project velocity, and productivity.
Examples of key features of project management tools include:
Track work hours with project reporting
Collaborate with colleagues on tasks on assets, shared comments, and timelines
Organise all tasks and projects in one central location
The advantages of project management tools include:
Improved planning and scheduling - Provides comprehensive solutions supporting streamlining project planning and scheduling processes. It enables users to identify and track vital tasks, assign them to individuals, create timelines and set deadlines.
Better collaboration and communication - Project management tools help improve team collaboration and communication by providing a centralised platform for sharing information, where you can discuss and coordinate in real-time.
Optimised source management - Help sales teams coordinate and manage resources such as CRM and lead lists more effectively. This ensures resources are utilised effectively to support sales reps in reaching their target.
Lead enrichment tools help businesses gather information and insights about potential prospects or leads. These tools collect data from different sources, such as social media platforms, public databases, and business directories. They then use scraping technologies and algorithms to extract relevant information related to leads.
This data can include details such as age, purchase history, location, and more, providing a more in-depth understanding of the target audience.
Key features of lead enrichment tools include:
Analysis of how leads progress through the sales pipeline
Provides visibility on which channels generate the most leaders for your company
Discover more about an audience's demographics and interests
Send timely and effective emails, direct emails, and display ad messages to new prospects and existing customers.
The benefits of lead enrichment tools include:
Improved data accuracy - This helps ensure your CRM system is up-to-date and accurate by filling in missing information and correcting errors.
Personalisation - Sales professionals can tailor their communication to individual prospects and leads with enriched data, enhancing the customer experience.
Upselling and cross-selling opportunities - Enriched data allows businesses to identify upselling and cross-selling opportunities by understanding a prospect or lead’s current services or products, their usage patterns, and potential expansion areas.
Streamlined sales outreach - Access to a wealth of information about prospects enables more informed and targeted outreach, increasing the chances of successful engagement.
Data standardisation - These tools often standardise data formats and structures, ensuring consistency across the database. This consistency makes it easier for sales professionals to analyse and take meaningful insights from the data they collect.
Call tracking software uses artificial intelligence to capture data from inward and outwardbound calls. This includes call tracking data like name, number, location, and the marketing source that directed them to make contact. Data can also include conversation intelligence data from the content of conversations, for example, the product and service the customer was interested in if they were a quality lead, and if they were converted.
Specific examples of data that can be gained from call analytics software include:
Lead score
Detailed transcriptions
Marketing channel metrics
Buyer sentiment analysis
Call and hold time duration
The data gathered by the call analytics software allows sales professionals to better understand their customers’ needs, interests, and pain points and gain insights into market trends.
The key advantages of call tracking include:
Performance Monitoring - Sales professionals use call analytics software to monitor their call activities, such as call duration, number of calls made, and call outcomes. This data enables them to evaluate their performance and identify areas of development.
Coaching and Training - Call analytics software can include call recording and conversation analytics features, which can be used for training and coaching.
CRM Integration - Many call tracking tools integrate with CRM systems, allowing sales professionals to log call details and activities automatically in CRM. This streamlines the sales process and ensures all call-related information is gathered and accessible.
Lead Attribution - Call analytics software can link incoming calls to the specific marketing channels or campaigns that led to the call. This information helps sales professionals understand which marketing efforts are driving the most profitable leads. This means they can focus their efforts on the most effective channels.
Tailors Customers' Experiences - Call analytics software provides great details about individual customers, empowering sales professionals to customise interactions and tailor their product and service offerings.
The ongoing advancements in sales technology are significantly impacting the sales industry, offering a range of practical benefits that can enhance the day-to-day work of sales professionals. As discussed in our comprehensive guide, these advantages span various aspects of the sales process.
As you progress in your sales career, staying informed about and adapting to these practical sales technologies will streamline your daily activities and make you a more effective and competitive sales professional. Embracing these advancements will undoubtedly contribute to your success in navigating the dynamic and evolving landscape of the sales industry. So, stay informed, adapt to the changes, and watch your career flourish in the era of cutting-edge sales technology.
With the advancement of sales technology, there has never been a more exciting time to pursue a career in sales. At Pareto, we have over 25 years experience in connecting exceptional sales professionals with innovative industries. To kickstart your career and discover how we can use our dedication and expertise to support you.
Contact the team today for more information.
